November 2009, Gun Control

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scared and are therefore less motivated to buy guns — a sentiment Michael Moore played up in Bowling for Columbine — there are other, more measurable policy factors in play as well. For starters, Canada has no equivalent to the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, with its oft-debated declaration that “the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Therefore, Canada has no long history of court battles and judgments regarding the intended meaning of this phrase and whether preventing people from buying, possessing, or carrying a gun is an infringement on their constitutional (or Canadian Charter) rights. In Canada, owning a gun is not a legal entitlement.

Reason Three: Handgun Laws In America, handgun regulation is left to the states and just about anyone can buy a gun. If you’re over 21 years of age, live in the state where you’re trying to purchase the gun, and aren’t a felon, a fugitive, mentally ill, or an illegal immigrant, you can purchase a gun. (In most states there are actually more restrictions on voting and receiving welfare assistance than there are on buying a handgun.) A background check may or may not be performed on you. In

addition to the ease with which Americans can purchase guns, it’s also relatively easy to obtain a gun permit, which is not actually required for the purchase of a gun.

In contrast, Canada has extremely strict federally mandated handgun regulations. In 1977, handguns were classified as “restricted weapons,” requiring a permit before one can be purchased. In order to obtain a handgun permit, a Canadian must prove that she or he needs the gun for a particular occupation, is part of an approved shooting club, is a collector, or needs the gun for self-protection. Each weapon must be registered and authorizations are required to transport them between different locations. Attending a gun-safety training course is mandatory and all gun purchases are subject to a 28-day waiting period.

It’s true that neither of us often think about guns, and we can’t think of anyone we know who owns a gun in either country. But Canada does feel safer, and not because Canadians are more relaxed, trusting, and laissez-faire about life; serious government policies on gun control account for the vastly dissimilar rates of gun ownership and gun type, and therefore gun violence between the U.S. and Canada.

Firearm-Related Injuries and Deaths

LES FISHER

Les Fisher, MPH, is a safety leadership consultant in Delmar, NY. His national public health injury prevention publications are found at www.icehs.org among other places.

The U.S. is the most highly armed country in the world. There are 90 guns for every 100 citizens, according to 2007 figures from the Small Arms Survey; in the rest of the world, the rate is ten firearms for every 100 citizens. The U.S. rate of lethal violence is correspondingly higher than other developing countries. A study of crime in the 1990s by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put the U.S. firearm homicide rate for children at sixteen times that of other developed countries. Moreover, gun-related suicides are the leading cause of gun-related deaths.

Firearm injuries, by virtue of the number of deaths, years of life lost, and cost to society, represent an important and persistent public health problem. Although the total fluctuates from year to year, firearms consistently rank second only to motor vehicle crashes as a cause of fatal injury in the U.S. More than 95 percent of fatal firearm injuries are the result of self-directed or interpersonal violence. The available

data demonstrate that firearm injuries continue to be a major cause of mortality in the U.S., producing approximately 30,000 deaths per year. In 2002, more than half of these deaths were suicides, a fact that has been neglected by much of the public health community and largely outside the scope of criminal justice efforts to decrease firearm misuse. Gun injuries have a very high case-fatality ratio, especially self-inflicted gunshot wounds. And there’s a greater chance that a gun injury in the home will harm another family member — not an outside intruder.

The long-term consequences of firearm injury can be substantial. In one study of hospitalized gunshot victims, health status six to twelve months after injury was significantly worse than before the event. In addition to physical disabilities, more than one third of individuals studied reported symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.